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A Baseline Study on the Effectiveness of a Mentor Certificate Programme Leading to Induction Activities for New Teachers in Rwandan Primary Schools RESEARCH COMMISSIONED BY VVOB EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT DO NOT SPREAD OR DISTRIBUTE WITHOUT PERMISSION Sofie Cabus 12 Carla Haelermans 3 Ilse Flink 4 Andrew Gasozi Ntwali 5 Jef Peeraer 5 Abstract Rwanda faces particular challenges with regard to teacher subject and pedagogical content knowledge and teacher retention. This paper presents a baseline study of an experiment (RCT) with a mentor certificate programme that should lead to induction activities in Rwanda. These induction activities imply mentoring and monitoring activities for newly qualified or newly appointed teachers. Questionnaires were administered among a sample of 719 new teachers across 6 Districts in Rwanda in March 2019. Of these respondents, 412 teachers have a mentor that takes part in the mentor certificate programme in the year 2019, developed by VVOB in partnership with the Rwanda Education Board, and the University of Rwanda College of Education. The objective of this baseline study is to assess the baseline status of primary outcome measures for the intervention and control group and test for any differences between the two groups. The primary outcome measures are job satisfaction, work related needs satisfaction, job stress and burnout, teacher efficacy and motivation. Furthermore, the baseline results on these outcome measures are described. This baseline study shows that overall treatment and control groups are very similar on pre- treatment characteristics and on the baseline outcome measures. Keywords: Baseline Study; Mentor Certificate Programme; Induction Activities; RC. 1 Corresponding author ([email protected]) 2 KU Leuven, Research Institute for Work and Society (HIVA), Parkstraat 47 bus 5300, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. 3 Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics (SBE), PO Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, the Netherlands. 4 VVOB Rwanda | Education for Development, KG 565 St, Kigali, Rwanda.

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Page 1: A Baseline Study on the Effectiveness of a Mentor ... · 4.3 CPD certificate programme ... find that teachers’ level of education did not improve math performance.5 To improve the

A Baseline Study on the Effectiveness of a

Mentor Certificate Programme Leading to

Induction Activities for New Teachers in

Rwandan Primary Schools

RESEARCH COMMISSIONED BY VVOB EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

DO NOT SPREAD OR DISTRIBUTE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sofie Cabus12 Carla Haelermans3 Ilse Flink4 Andrew Gasozi Ntwali5 Jef Peeraer5

Abstract

Rwanda faces particular challenges with regard to teacher subject and pedagogical content

knowledge and teacher retention. This paper presents a baseline study of an experiment (RCT)

with a mentor certificate programme that should lead to induction activities in Rwanda. These

induction activities imply mentoring and monitoring activities for newly qualified or newly

appointed teachers. Questionnaires were administered among a sample of 719 new teachers

across 6 Districts in Rwanda in March 2019. Of these respondents, 412 teachers have a mentor

that takes part in the mentor certificate programme in the year 2019, developed by VVOB in

partnership with the Rwanda Education Board, and the University of Rwanda College of

Education.

The objective of this baseline study is to assess the baseline status of primary outcome measures

for the intervention and control group and test for any differences between the two groups. The

primary outcome measures are job satisfaction, work related needs satisfaction, job stress and

burnout, teacher efficacy and motivation. Furthermore, the baseline results on these outcome

measures are described.

This baseline study shows that overall treatment and control groups are very similar on pre-

treatment characteristics and on the baseline outcome measures.

Keywords: Baseline Study; Mentor Certificate Programme; Induction Activities; RC.

1 Corresponding author ([email protected]) 2 KU Leuven, Research Institute for Work and Society (HIVA), Parkstraat 47 bus 5300, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. 3 Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics (SBE), PO Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, the

Netherlands. 4 VVOB Rwanda | Education for Development, KG 565 St, Kigali, Rwanda.

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Table of contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 5

2 Literature ....................................................................................................................................... 7

3 Context ........................................................................................................................................... 8

4 Intervention ................................................................................................................................. 11

4.1 Short background ............................................................................................................... 11

4.2 Delivery of the induction programme ............................................................................... 12

4.3 CPD certificate programme ............................................................................................... 13

4.4 Key activities of the induction programme ....................................................................... 15

5 Research method ......................................................................................................................... 16

6 Sampling procedure .................................................................................................................... 17

7 Data .............................................................................................................................................. 19

7.1 Composition of the sample ................................................................................................. 19

7.2 Background characteristics ................................................................................................ 20

7.3 Experience with induction programmes and induction needs ........................................ 22

8 Description and analysis of outcome variables analysis .......................................................... 24

8.1 Properties and reliability .................................................................................................... 24

8.1.1 Job Satisfaction ............................................................................................................. 25

8.1.2 Work Related Needs Satisfaction.................................................................................. 26

8.1.3 Experienced Job Stress and Burnout ............................................................................. 28

8.1.4 Self-Assessed Teacher Efficacy .................................................................................... 29

8.1.5 Motivation toward Work Tasks .................................................................................... 29

8.2 Discussion of quality ........................................................................................................... 30

9 Evaluation of the pre-treatment outcomes ............................................................................... 31

10 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 33

11 References ................................................................................................................................ 33

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List of abbreviations

CBC Competence Based Curriculum

CPD Continuous Professional Development

MT Mentor Trainers

NT New teachers

NT Mentors New teachers’ mentors

NQT Newly qualified teachers: per definition recently graduated from TTC

NAT Newly assigned teachers: not per definition recently graduated from

TTC, but recently assigned to a new school

REB Rwanda Education Board

SBM School Based Mentor

SSL School Subject Leaders

TTC Teacher Training Centre

URCE University of Rwanda - College of Education

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List of tables

Table 1: T-test on background characteristics ...................................................................................... 21

Table 2: Experience with induction programmes (N=719) ................................................................... 22

Table 3: Participation of respondents in induction activities at their school (N=719) .......................... 23

Table 4: The degree to which respondents currently need formally organized support (N=719)......... 24

Table 5: Scores on the sub-questions of the scale job satisfaction ....................................................... 26

Table 6: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness at

work ...................................................................................................................................................... 27

Table 7: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales personal accomplishments and emotional

exhaustion ............................................................................................................................................. 28

Table 8: Scores on the sub-questions of the scale self-assessed teacher efficacy ................................. 29

Table 9: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales intrinsic motivation; identified regulation;

introjected regulation; external regulation; and amotivation ................................................................ 30

Table 10: T-test of outcome variables ................................................................................................... 32

List of figures

Figure 1: Structure of the Rwandan education system............................................................................ 9

Figure 2: Survival rates in primary education in Rwanda in 2016........................................................ 10

Figure 3: Country map with location of interventions (٭) .................................................................... 13

Figure 4: Design of the RCT ................................................................................................................. 20

Figure 4: Presentation of the components included in the Survey tool ................................................. 25

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1 Introduction

This paper presents a baseline study of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with a mentor

certificate programme that should lead to induction activities in Rwanda. Rwanda faces

particular challenges with regard to teacher subject and pedagogical content knowledge. For

example, Maniraho & Christiansen (2015) collected data from 19 teachers from 19 different

Rwandan schools and tested their mathematics content knowledge. The authors indicate poor

results for basic mathematical skills (algebra, geometry and probability/statistics). Further, they

find that teachers’ level of education did not improve math performance.5 To improve the

quality of education and consequently student learning outcomes, The Rwanda Education

Board (REB) introduced a new curriculum in 2015 called the Competence Based Curriculum

(CBC) (REB, 2016). The CBC focuses on knowledge creation and application rather than just

the acquisition of knowledge and skills (Ngendahayo & Askell-Williams, 2016). The CBC has

direct implications for teachers’ teaching practices. It requires teachers to teach differently (i.e.

student-centred teaching methods instead of knowledge-based methods), to work with new

learning materials and to apply new assessment methods. If there is little support for teachers

in adapting these new teaching practices, this is likely to have an impact on teacher motivation

and retention.

One of the main ways that the Rwandan Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) supports

teachers with implementing the CBC is through the appointment of School Based Mentors

(SBM). It is the ultimate goal for every school in Rwanda to have a SBM.6 The SBM plays a

major role in guiding and organising school-based CPD (e.g. coaching and mentoring) and

promoting reflective practice among colleagues.

5 In Rwanda, the majority of teachers obtain a diploma in secondary education in order to enter the teaching

profession. A smaller group of teachers obtain a bachelor diploma. 6 As early as in 2012, SBM were offered and organised by the Rwanda Education Board (REB), however, owing

to recruiting problems, not every school could be offered a SBM.

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Newly qualified teachers (NQT), or newly appointed teachers (NAT) 7, are of special interest

to the SBM, as they go through a transition period from school-to-work or from school-to-

school. Throughout this paper we will refer to both NQT and NAT as new teachers by using

the joint abbreviation NT. Literature indicates that these transition periods are difficult (among

others, Smith and Ingersoll, 2004). In order to equip NT with the skills necessary to teach the

CBC, a mentor certificate programme was introduced in 2018 as a pilot, in which mentors are

taught to and stimulated to develop and implement induction activities for NT in primary

schools in Rwanda. As of 2019, the programme was rolled out further over more schools. This

programme is developed by VVOB in Rwanda in partnership with REB, the University of

Rwanda College of Education (URCE), and the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). The main

component of the mentor certificate programme is to simulate induction activities, which

consist of mentoring and monitoring activities at schools (Section 4.4). Furthermore, the

effectiveness of the mentor certificate programme in initiating new induction activities is

monitored by VVOB in Rwanda in collaboration with its partners in Rwanda and the University

of Leuven (Belgium) and Maastricht University (the Netherlands).

The baseline study discussed in this paper refers to the period right before the introduction

of the training and the subsequent new induction activities and indicates the current state of

participants with regards to their job satisfaction, work related needs satisfaction, experienced

job stress, self-assessed efficacy and motivation. In what follows, we discuss previous literature

on induction programmes in Section 2. Section 3 discusses the context of the Rwandan

education system, followed by an overview of the different components of the induction

programme (Section 4). Then, Section 5 presents the research method for the evaluation of the

effectiveness of the induction programme and Section 6 presents the sampling procedure. Data

and descriptive statistics of background characteristics are found in Section 7. A description of

7 Teachers who face a transition to a new school after having had seniority in another school before.

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the full set of pre-treatment outcome variables is discussed in Section 8. Section 9 evaluates

the outcomes, and Section 10 concludes.

2 Literature

Previous literature indicates that teachers considerably improve performance over the first

three to five years mainly owing to teachers’ informal learning on-the-job (Rockoff, 2004,

2008; Hanushek & Rivkin, 2010; Hanushek, 2011). However, in these first critical years in-

service, New Teachers (NT) are also more likely to leave the profession early. There are several

factors that contribute to teacher attrition: (1) teachers can face a difficult integration into the

new school; (2) there may be system constraints, or difficulties in finding a permanent job at

the new school (i.e. the problem of frequent migration of teachers), or salary and status issues,

as in some countries, like Rwanda, teachers have very low status and/or salaries.

These reasons, in turn, may negatively affect teaching practices and teacher efficacy of NT,

which in turn may reduce teachers’ value added, motivation and overall job satisfaction, and

increase stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout (among others; Hackman & Oldham, 1975;

Broeck et al., 2010; Strong, 2005; Richter et al., 2013; Cabus et al., 2019). These negative

feelings towards the teaching profession can, in the worst case, trigger emotional exhaustion

and burnout (Richter et al., 2013).

Smith & Ingersoll (2004) and Ingersoll & Strong (2011) discuss the important role for

induction programmes to stimulate teachers’ competences and to retain them on-the-job within

the first years of employment. Induction programmes consist of activities for beginning

teachers, mostly organised by the school and/or in cooperation with the pre-service teacher

training. Examples are: mentoring and coaching, video-analysis of teachers’ teaching, and peer

observation and discussions (Maandag et al., 2007; Algozzine et al., 2007; Davis & Higdon,

2008; Roehrig et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2008).

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From the literature it is clear that especially mentoring activities are important for teacher

retention. A mentor is often a more experienced colleague at the school of the new teacher

(Ingersoll and Smith, 2004).8 This mentor offers support to the new teacher in, for example,

subject or pedagogical content knowledge and class management, and introduces the new

teacher to the school and his/her new colleagues. However, there are some conditions attached

to who the mentor is, for example: a mentor should be a person that the new teacher can trust;

the chosen mentor should stay appointed for more than one year; and the mentor should have

a professional attitude towards the mentoring activities (Evertson & Smithey, 2000; Cohen &

Fuller, 2006; Fletcher & Strong, 2009; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004; Strong, 2005; Odell & Huling,

2000; Stanulis & Floden, 2009). Further, there are requirements attached to the assignment of

the mentor. Based on a systematic literature study, Cabus et al. (2019) argue that mentoring

programmes are more effective in case of higher frequency, longer duration, and better quality.

But how frequent and how long a mentoring programme should run in order to be effective

remains largely unclear. With regard to mentoring quality, Richter et al. (2013) indicate that

mentoring and coaching of NT should aim at knowledge transformation rather than at

knowledge transmission. Knowledge transformation is defined as a learning process that

attaches new knowledge to prior knowledge of the mentee, in this case the new teacher.

3 Context

Similar to other countries, the formal education system in Rwanda has four main levels or

sub-sectors: pre-primary, primary, secondary, and higher education. This report focuses

particularly on primary education.

8 According to the definition of Ingersoll and Smith (2004, p.683), mentoring is defined as: “[…] the personal

guidance provided, usually by seasoned veterans, to beginning teachers in schools.” We elaborate on this

definition by also including experienced teachers into the target group for mentoring activities, who recently

started in a new school.

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Compulsory education takes 12 years, where children's age normally ranges from 7 to 18.

Compulsory education covers primary education, lower and upper secondary education

(MINEDUC, 2017). There are national examinations at the end of primary, lower secondary

and upper secondary education that determine eligibility for proceeding to the next level of

education. The language of instruction in primary grade 1 to 3 (P1-P3) is Kinyarwanda, and

changes to English as of primary grade 4 (P4). Figure 1 shows the structure of the Rwandan

formal education system, including pre-primary education.

Figure 1: Structure of the Rwandan education system

Source: Figure 1 – Structure of the Rwandan educations system in MINEDUC (2017)

Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018/19 to 2022/23 final draft 3rd October 2017, pp 14.

Because Rwanda is committed to providing free education for all children aged 7-18, access

to education has increased significantly in the early 2000s. Accordingly, enrolment rates in

primary education in Rwanda have been quite high since 2012, with 97.7% of children enrolled

in P1 in 2016 (MINEDUC, 2017). However, many children in primary education are not within

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the expected age range owing to grade repetition and dropout. Figure 2 plots the survival rates

(Y-axis) over the primary school grades (X-axis) and indicates that by primary grade 6 (P6)

only about 50 percent of children are still in school. This implies that throughout their primary

school career, many primary pupils drop-out.

Figure 2: Survival rates in primary education in Rwanda in 2016.

Source: Figure 5 in MINEDUC (2017) Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018/19 to 2022/23

final draft 3rd October 2017, pp 22.

Although access rates to primary education are quite high, the quality of education remains

a serious challenge. We identify three indicators of the quality of education: learners’ basic

literacy and numeracy skills, pupil-teacher ratio, and the proportion of adequately trained

teachers. First, quality can be expressed in mastering basic literacy and numeracy skills. In fact,

to successfully progress through primary, secondary and tertiary education, and to be able to

master technical and vocational courses, it is necessary to have a strong basis in literacy and

numeracy, which is not the case for many students. In 2011 and 2014 an assessment of the

learning achievements was conducted in Rwandan schools in order to provide an overview of

the levels of learning in literacy and numeracy of children in primary grade 2 (P2) and primary

grade 5 (P5). In 2014, the results showed that respectively 45.3% and 32.9% of P2 students

achieved the grade level competency in literacy and numeracy. In P5, these proportions largely

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remained unchanged ( 44.1% and 38.3% in P5, for literacy and numeracy, respectively). Pupils

from urban schools did perform better than those in rural schools, and learners in private

schools performed better than their peers in public schools (government schools) (MINEDUC,

2017).

Second, the pupil-teacher ratio in primary education in Rwanda – an often used indicator of

the quality of education (Glewwe et al., 2011) - is as high as 58:1. What is more, the ratio of

pupils per qualified teacher is 62:1 (with a target of 48:1 for 2017/18) (MINEDUC, 2017). Note

nonetheless, that there is large variation in the average class size and pupil-teacher ratios across

and within districts within the country. To lower the pupil-teacher ratio, Rwanda has introduced

the double-shift system. The double-shift practice entails that teachers educate a different group

of students in the mornings and afternoons, implying that students only get education half a

day, but teachers work full day shifts.

Third, the quality of education can be indicated by the number of adequately qualified

teachers in service (MINEDUC, 2017). One of the key educational challenges in Rwanda is

that teachers lack the required competencies in subject content, pedagogy and language of

instruction (English and Kinyarwanda). About 93% of teachers is qualified, however, in

practice quality between teachers varies (MINEDUC, 2017). We also present evidence on this

in Section 7.

4 Intervention

4.1 Short background

In close collaboration with REB, the Ministry of Education, and URCE, VVOB introduced

a pilot of a mentor certificate programme in 2018, which subsequently would have to lead to

new induction activities for NT (NQT and NAT) in primary education in Rwanda. This pilot

was simultaneously researched, and in 2019 further rolled out in more schools, and again

researched. NQTs are in the first 3 years of their teaching career after leaving pre-service

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teacher education, while NATs have a maximum of 3 years teaching experience in their newly

assigned school. The induction activities that the mentor certificate programme focused on

consist of mentoring and monitoring activities. The mentoring activities consist of an individual

learning plan that is put together by the NT and his/her mentor. The learning plan is essentially

a bundle of activities that include formal one-to-one mentoring (e.g. on pedagogical and subject

content knowledge), and discussions with peers through a community of practice. These

activities take place on average two times per week. Then, three times per year, a tutor of the

pre-service teacher training centre (TTC) monitors the NT by observing his/her teaching

practice and providing feedback. Potential problems with the mentor can also be discussed with

the TTC tutor.

4.2 Delivery of the induction programme

This implementation of the mentor certificate programme and subsequent induction

programme started with a pilot in the year 2018. To measure the effectiveness of the pilot

programme, VVOB, URCE, REB and the Universities of Leuven and Maastricht established a

research programme. In 2019, the programme was rolled out in a larger amount of schools. The

induction activities at school are organized by School-Based Mentors (SBM), School-Subject

Leaders (SSL) and Tutors from the Teacher Training College (TTC), who are all trained in

educational coaching and mentoring through certified CPD Programmes from the University

of Rwanda College of Education, co-developed and -implemented with VVOB. More

information on the CPD certificate programmes is provided in section 4.3.

The induction programme is implemented in 6 districts in the Western Province (Nyabihu

and Rusizi) and Eastern Province (Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Kirehe and Kayonza) of Rwanda

Figure 3). These districts have higher dropout rates and lower examination results than on

average observed in Rwanda (Ministry of Education, 2016) (as can be seen in Figure 3 based

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on the colours; red districts have high drop-out rates). In total 275 school-based mentors are

trained in the year 2019, implying that the induction programme will be introduced to all NTs

in these primary (intervention) schools in Rwanda.

Figure 3: Country map with location of interventions (٭)

Source: 2015 Educational Statistical Yearbook, Ministry of Education (2016), p.31

4.3 CPD certificate programme

The support and guidance (including mentoring) provided to NTs in the induction

programme is about building the teaching profession, retaining teachers in the profession, and

ensuring that they are part of a learning community focused on continuously improving their

teaching practice and their learning. The induction programme should be considered part of the

School-Based Mentorship Programme Framework (SBMPF). A School-Based Mentor (SBM)

٭

٭

٭

٭

٭

٭

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has been selected in each public/government aided school to facilitate the SBMPF

implementation.

In this context, VVOB, REB, and URCE, have developed a CPD certificate programme for

School-Based Mentors (SBM), School-Subject Leaders (SSL) in mathematics and TTC tutors.

TTC tutors co-facilitate the delivery of induction programme and support SBMs and SSLs

(NTs mentors in schools) in their mentoring of NTs. The TTC tutor also establishes a link

between the pre-service and in-service teaching training. This is in line with Policy Priority 4

of the draft TDM-policy, which stipulates that CPD of teachers and pre-service teacher

education must be more closely linked.

The CPD certificate programme on Educational Mentorship and Coaching provides SBMs

with coaching and mentoring skills needed to guide and organize CPD at their school, to

promote reflective practice in their respective schools and to advance the implementation of

the CBC. It focuses on teacher development as an ongoing process in a teacher’s career.

Throughout this paper, the person, who has followed the Educational Mentorship and Coaching

programme, will be called the new teachers’ (NT) mentor.

There is also a CPD certificate programme for SSL in mathematics. The programme aims to

boost basic mathematical skills among teachers, and is essentially a certificate course for SSL

in mathematics. SSL are introduced to a variety of aspects of pedagogical content knowledge

on mathematics and mathematical leadership. It also contains examples related to selected

topics of the primary mathematics curriculum, in order to mentor NT who teach mathematics.

TTC tutors also follow the CPD certificate programme on Educational Mentorship and

Coaching organised by REB. They receive additional training on monitoring the performance

of NT. In addition, TTC tutors will be coached by the URCE in their role as co-trainer and

coach of mentors (SSL and SBM).

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Given that SBMs and TTC tutors are the main facilitators of induction programmes in

schools, the RCT focuses on mentoring by SBM and TTC tutors, not by the SSL.

4.4 Key activities of the induction programme

Based on research evidence on means for effective CPD, elements and success factors of

induction and in alignment with the priorities and strategies of the Government of Rwanda, the

induction programme in Rwandan schools should consist of four key activities, which are

covered in the CPD certificate programmes. The first main activity is mentoring, which can be

both one-to-one mentoring and group mentoring. Examples of mentoring activities are joint

lesson planning, observing mentor’s teaching or observing fellow teachers - including a

discussion before (preparation lesson observation) and after observation (debriefing and

reflection) - analysing students’ work and results on assessments, analysing marking and record

keeping system, discussing about teaching and learning issues, or suggesting and discussing

teaching and classroom management techniques. The second activity is CoP sessions, where

NT and more experienced teachers, teaching the same subject (depending on the size of the

school) meet to discuss their work. They think of solutions to challenges they encounter in the

classroom and share good practices. Activities that can be undertaken during a CoP-session

are, for example, collaborative lesson preparation, lesson study/observation, case discussions,

analysing student work on formative and summative assessments, analysing marking and

record keeping systems, or developing strategies for teaching learners with special educational

needs (SEN). The third activity are seminars or trainings on topics of concern to new teachers,

which can be organised at school, sector or district level. The fourth and final activity is TTC

support to NTs’ induction. This can include classroom observation, analysing students’ work

and results on assessments or reviewing a NT’s CPD-plan (review progress and setting targets)

and monitoring the implementation of the induction programmes.

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Note that the intervention technically is an intent-to-treat for the NTs, as, the SBMs and SSLs

decide which activities actually to implement in their schools, meaning that the content,

frequency and intensity of the actual activities within the induction programme vary per school,

and per NT.

5 Research method

During the pilot study in 2018, we have set-up and tested a valuable survey tool for the

measurement of the effectiveness of the intervention “induction programmes for New Teachers

in Rwanda”. The survey tool measures different teacher outcomes that are expected to change

when NT have access to well-designed induction programmes, namely: job satisfaction,

motivation, teaching practices, teacher efficacy, and stress and burnout. The measurement

instruments underlying these outcomes are discussed in Section 8. In order to measure the

effectiveness of the intervention programme in terms of the aforementioned teacher outcomes,

we wish to compare a treatment group with a control group before and after the intervention

has taken place. To this end, we will eventually conduct a difference-in-differences (DiD)

analysis. However, in this baseline report we can obviously only report on the pre-treatment

measures, and the differences of treatment and control groups on these measures.

However, two different conditions apply to the treatment group. A first treatment group

receives mentoring activities within the scope of the new induction programme. In the second

treatment group a TTC tutor monitors the NTs’ performance in addition to the mentoring

activities. Therefore, in the remainder of this paper, we distinguish between two treatment

groups, namely: the mentoring group (Treatment 1) and the mentoring and monitoring group

(Treatment 2).

There are a couple of assumptions underlying a DiD analysis. First, it is important that the

intervention group and the control group are comparable based on observed and unobserved

background characteristics. For example, teachers, who participate in the intervention should

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have a similar intrinsic motivation for teaching as teachers in the control group. If this condition

is met, the effectiveness of the intervention can be ascribed to the intervention and not to

differences in characteristics between the treated and untreated groups.

Second, the intervention group and the control group move “parallel over time”. This parallel

time trend assumption implies, for example, that teachers from the intervention have a similar

likelihood to drop-out from the teaching profession than teachers from the control group. In

other words: before the intervention has taken place, treated teachers have similar outcomes

than untreated teachers.

And third, there is no overlap (or ‘spill-over’) between participants and non-participants to

the intervention. Spill-over effects violate the stable unit treatment value assumption

(SUTVA); which implies that untreated teachers benefit from the intervention through access

to knowledge of or experiences with induction programmes via treated teachers.

A good way for ensuring comparability between the treated and untreated teachers, and to

meet the parallel time trend assumption, is random assignment (to the intervention). Random

assignment means that differences between treated and untreated teachers are based on a

random error in the assignment process. The idea is that these random errors in observed or

unobserved characteristics cancel each other out in the comparison of the intervention and

control group before and after the intervention, so that the estimated effectiveness of induction

programmes is a ‘true’ measure of the effect.

6 Sampling procedure

Prior to the pilot study in 2018, all 589 schools/SBMs that were eligible to participate in the

CPD certificate programme on educational mentorship and coaching were randomly assigned

to three training cohorts. The first training cohort was considered the pilot group which was

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trained in 2018 and included N=38 schools/SBMs. The second cohort, considered the treatment

group which is trained in 2019, included N=275 schools/SBMs. The last cohort, considered the

control group in this study in 2019 which will be trained in 2020, included N=276

schools/SBMs. As such, a total of 551 schools were deemed eligible to participate in the RCT.

As funds did not allow to select all 551 schools for the RCT, we drew random samples from

each of the two groups/cohorts. To select a sample large enough to detect a small effect of the

treatment we used G-power software to calculate the sample size according to the number of

NT. Based on these results, the sample size was set at 1,050 NTs, enabling the estimation of a

significant small standardized effect of 0.2 (Cohen’s d) with a statistical power of 0.80

(convention). Calculating this back to the number of schools, this implied selecting 231 schools

(assuming at least 4 NTs per school, the average number of NTs at each pilot school). As having

two treatment groups required us to have 3/2 allocation ratio for the treatment versus the control

group, we selected 124 treatment schools and 106 control schools for the RCT. The treatment

sample is composed of a random selection of 72 schools that are part of treatment 1 and all 52

schools that are part of treatment 2. The 106 control schools were randomly selected from the

sample of 276 schools.

Next, enumerators went to the selected schools to interview all the NT. Given that some

schools had less NT than expected, no NT at all and/or some NT did not want to participate in

the survey, the final sample, and after data cleaning, included a total of 214 schools and 719

NT, which is a negligible difference from the 231 schools that we needed according to the

power analysis. This includes 275 NT in treatment group 1, 137 NT in treatment group 2 and

307 NT in the control group. Figure 4 gives an overview of the design of the RCT, leading

from the target population of schools to the sample that is used for analysis. In order to meet

the third assumption on “no spill over effects” between treated and untreated teachers, we

guaranteed that treated teachers are not teaching in control schools, and vice versa.

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7 Data

7.1 Composition of the sample

While 760 teachers were surveyed in March 2019, the current dataset consists of 719 teachers

after cleaning, since we lose 41 observations due to missing information on personal

background characteristics of teachers. In total the population for analysis included, 212

schools: 71 schools (or 275 NT) in Treatment group 1; 48 schools (137 NT) in Treatment Group

2; and 93 schools (307 NT) in the Control Group. The total sample size is then equal to N=719

new teachers.

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Figure 4: Design of the RCT

Note: This figure represents the total number of schools and the total number of NT in the final dataset, after

data cleaning. Before data cleaning, we had questionnaires among 760 NT or 116 schools.

7.2 Background characteristics

Table 1 summarizes the background characteristics of the sample of teachers, and the

differences between the two treatment groups and the control group. We have slightly more

men than women in the sample. They are on average 28 years old. Age is not statistically

different between the two treatment groups and the untreated teachers. However, gender

appears to be significantly different between the second treatment group and the control group.

There are 10 percentage points more males in the control group than in Treatment Group 1.

Educational attainment is rather poor. In the control group, we observe that 91.5 percent of

teachers attained level-1. This percentage share is equal to 85.1 percent in Treatment Group 1

(which is significantly different at the 5% -level), and 87.6 percent in Treatment Group 2 (not

statistically different). However, since we apply eight consecutive t-tests, we have to be

cautious with the interpretation, as by statistical law we would expect every 1 out of 20 tests to

be significant if we use a 5% significance level9, and indeed, we see some significant

differences a the 10%-level.

9 In some studies authors apply a Bonferroni correction with a large number of t-tests. However, the Bonferroni

correction is a rather strict test that is undesirable and is unusual to apply to pre-treatment comparisons, as it

means to account for false positives in outcomes.

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All teachers teach in primary school, but 130 teachers (18%) also teach in lower secondary

education. The share of teachers also teaching in secondary education varies highly by district

(varying from 3 to 37 percent, with an average of 18), but within districts treatment and control

groups are comparable. On average, respondents travel thirty to forty minutes to the appointed

school. We observe small significant differences between the treatment groups compared to

the control group with regard to travel time. However, the difference between the groups is

very small (5 to 7 minutes).

Table 1: T-test on background characteristics

Control group Treatment Group 1 Sig. Treatment Group 2 Sig.

Mean Std.Dev Mean Std.Dev Mean Std.Dev

male (%) 0.570 0.496 0.564 0.497 0.474 0.501 *

age (years) 27.7 5.6 28.0 6.0 27.9 6.5 teacher in primary

vs. secondary (%) 0.84 0.37 0.78 0.41 * 0.85 0.36

educational attainment (%)

level-1 0.915 0.279 0.851 0.357 ** 0.876 0.331

level-2 0.049 0.216 0.065 0.248 0.058 0.235

level-3 0.036 0.186 0.076 0.266 ** 0.066 0.249

level-4 0.000 0.000 0.007 0.085 0.000 0.000

teaching experience (years)

since graduation 3.4 4.0 3.5 0.3 3.4 3.9

in this school 1.5 1.0 1.3 0.1 ** 1.4 1.0

Travel time (minutes) 39.6 36.7 34.0 30.3 ** 32.5 26.8 **

Note: Stars denote the significant levels of the differences between the treatment group (1/2) and the control

group. Significant levels are denoted at 1%-level (***); 5%-level (**); and 10%-level (*). Treatment Group 1

receives mentoring only (N=275); and Treatment Group 2 receives mentoring and monitoring (N=137).

Furthermore, about 415 teachers (57.7%) have had teaching experience in no more than one

school. Years of teaching experience since graduation from pre-service teacher training varies

from 0 to 31 years with an average of three and a half years and a standard deviation of 4. As

such, there are a few teachers with a lot of seniority, however, they got appointed to a new

school fairly recently. There is no significant difference in this respect between the control

group and both the treatment groups.

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7.3 Experience with induction programmes and induction needs

One of the targets of the Mentor Certificate Programme is that it could lead to induction

activities for New Teachers in Rwandan Primary Schools. In our questionnaire, we have

explored more explicitly whether teachers have experiences with induction programmes, or

express certain induction needs (Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4). Of the full sample of teachers,

38 percent responds to be familiar with the definition of induction programmes; 54 percent has

a new teacher mentor at the school; and 17 percent has a TTC mentor. The new teacher mentor

is mostly a school-based mentor (41%), but can also be the director of studies or deputy head

teacher (26%); or the school subject leader (24%).10 Those respondents with a new teacher

mentor talk very frequently with him/her, for example, every month (23%); every two weeks

(10%); once a week (24%); several times per week (15%) or on a daily basis (6%). Only 10

percent of respondents talk less than once a month with the new teacher mentor, and 12 percent

never.

Table 2: Experience with induction programmes (N=719)

Question Yes No

Are you familiar with the definition of induction programmes for new teachers? 38% 62%

I took part in a professional mentoring programme at my school 29% 71%

There was an organized introduction in my school 27% 73%

I took part in general and/or administrative introduction to my school 83% 17%

Do you have a new teacher mentor at your school? 54% 46%

Who is the new teacher mentor?* School subject leader 24% Director of studies/deputy head teacher 26% school based mentor 41% Other 10% Do you have a TTC mentor? 17% 83%

*Note: Answers to this question only provided for those respondents that answered ‘yes, I have a new teacher

mentor at my school.’

10 The remaining group of respondents (9%) answered that the new teacher mentor is “other”

than previously defined persons.

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More than 80 percent of teachers received a general and/or administrative introduction.

However, barely one in every three respondents took part in a professional mentoring

programme or an organized introduction at the school. This is also indicated by the teachers’

answers on participation in activities at school. Over two-thirds of respondents have never had

any activity that resorts to an induction programme, like joint lesson planning together with a

mentor, classroom observation, individual coaching, developing and reviewing a continuous

professional development plan (CPD), peer discussions or workshops on (the didactics of) their

subject.

Table 3: Participation of respondents in induction activities at their school (N=719)

Never

Less

than

once a

month

Once a

month

Every

two

weeks

Once a

week

Several

times a

week

Every

day

Joint lesson planning together with my

mentor 59% 7% 12% 5% 8% 6% 3%

Observing mentor teaching 67% 6% 11% 3% 7% 4% 1%

Observing another teacher teaching 39% 13% 18% 6% 11% 8% 4%

Being observed by my mentor 48% 9% 21% 6% 9% 7% 0%

Being observed by another teacher 45% 10% 18% 5% 9% 9% 4%

Individual coaching conversation with

my mentor 45% 9% 19% 6% 11% 7% 3%

Developing my individual CPD Plan

together with my mentor 58% 7% 13% 6% 10% 5% 2%

Reviewing my individual CPD Plan

together with my mentor 56% 8% 13% 5% 10% 5% 3%

Being part of a Community of Practice of

teachers teaching the same subject 49% 12% 15% 5% 11% 6% 2%

Being part of a Community of Practice of

teachers teaching different subject 46% 15% 18% 7% 8% 5% 1%

Seminars/trainings on topics of concern

to new teachers 74% 8% 8% 3% 4% 2% 0%

Analysing student work and results on

assessments together with my mentor 60% 8% 14% 4% 7% 5% 2%

Despite this low participation in professional mentoring activities, there is clearly a need for

it (Table 4). For example, respondents wish to have formally organised support at the school

in order to learn about strategies to manage large classes. Further, teachers indicate that they

could benefit from organised workshops, peer discussions or discussions with a mentor at

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school on didactic material, knowledge and understanding of (teaching) their subject, and

administrative documents. Need for formally organised support seems to be lowest for support

with student evaluation and assessment and student behaviour.

Table 4: The degree to which respondents currently need formally organized support

(N=719)

No need at

present

Low level of

need

Moderate level of

need

High level of

need

Knowledge and understanding of my

subject(s) 13% 22% 37% 28%

Pedagogical competences in teaching my

subject(s) 12% 28% 35% 26%

Student evaluation and assessment 42% 22% 21% 15%

Student behavior 36% 24% 21% 20%

Strategies to manage big classes 10% 19% 27% 44%

Classroom management and

administration 15% 24% 30% 30%

8 Description and analysis of outcome variables analysis

8.1 Properties and reliability

We used different sources from the selected literature to measure the effectiveness of

induction programmes in different ways. As such, we evaluated (1) teachers’ satisfaction with

job contents and context (Hackman and Oldham, 1974; TALIS, 2013); (2) work related basic

needs satisfaction (Van den Broeck et al., 2010); (3) teacher efficacy (Schwarzer and Hallum,

2008); (4) job stress and burnout (Maslach and Jackson, 1981); and (5) teachers’ motivation

toward specific work tasks (Fernet et al., 2008). Figure 5 summarizes these components.

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Figure 5: Presentation of the components included in the Survey tool

Note: The numbers between brackets refer to those questions with the highest loadings on the components

measured in a particular question (e.g. Question 14 measures Job Satisfaction), and ‘r’ denotes the reliability

statistic of the scale.

8.1.1 Job Satisfaction

Hackman and Oldham (1974) developed a scale for the measurement of overall satisfaction

and happiness with the job. Overall happiness and satisfaction is measured based on different

questions related to job security, pay and other compensation, peers and co-workers (also

referred to as social satisfaction), supervision, and opportunities for personal growth and

development on the job (also referred to as growth satisfaction).

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Table 5: Scores on the sub-questions of the scale job satisfaction

Score (max.5)

Q(n°) Description 1 2 3 4 5

5 The degree of respect and fair treatment I receive from the

head teacher 3% 5% 9% 45% 38%

6 The feeling of worthwhile accomplishment I get from

doing my job as a teacher 0% 1% 4% 31% 64%

8 The amount of support and guidance I receive at this

school 2% 7% 5% 49% 36%

10 The amount of independent thought and action I can

exercise in my job as a teacher 2% 7% 7% 53% 31%

11 How secure things look for me in the future in this school 2% 4% 10% 41% 44%

14 The overall quality of support and guidance I receive at

this school 3% 8% 7% 51% 31%

Note: The scores range from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 5 (extremely satisfied). The value of 3 indicates

neutral.

Table 3 summarizes the sub-questions with the highest loadings on the scale. The reliability

statistic derived from Cronbach’s alpha is equal to 0.822 based on the six questions reported in

Table 3. Hereby, the scale for job satisfaction meets the generally accepted lower bound criteria

of r≥0.7.

8.1.2 Work Related Needs Satisfaction

The work-related basic needs satisfaction (W-BNS) scale of Van den Broeck et al. (2010)

captures three scales, namely: the need for competence (1), autonomy (2) and relatedness (3)

at work. We present the reliability statistic of each of these scales in Figure 5. The reliability

statistic of the needs for competency scale is poor and equal to r=0.268. For the other two scales

we also estimate moderate reliability coefficients of (r=0.599; needs for autonomy) and

(r=0.588; needs for relatedness at work).

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Table 6: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales needs for competence, autonomy and

relatedness at work

Scores (max.4)

Q(n°) Description 1 2 3 4

Needs for competence

2 I feel confident in teaching 1% 3% 12% 84%

4 When I'm at work I have serious doubts about whether I can do things

well

17% 18% 20% 45%

5 At work, I feel capable to perform my task 0% 1% 6% 93%

7 I feel comfortable in my task as a teacher 3% 8% 23% 66%

Needs for autonomy

8 I feel forced to do many things on my job I wouldn't choose to do 74% 10% 8% 8%

9 I feel a sense of choice and freedom in my job 5% 10% 23% 63%

10 I feel pressured to do too many things on my job 64% 13% 11% 13%

Needs for relatedness

1 I have a good relationship with the other teachers 1% 2% 9% 89%

3 I feel the relationships (with students, teachers, parents, head teacher...) I

have at work are just superficial

0% 4% 25% 71%

6 I am open to share my failures with my fellow teachers 0% 2% 5% 93%

Note: The scores range from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Exactly true).

Table 6 summarizes the sub-questions underlying the three W-BNS scales. With regard to

the need for competence, teachers respond very differently to question 4 “When I'm at work I

have serious doubts about whether I can do things well”. The responses to this question seem

to contradict with the overall fair to good responses on the other questions underlying the needs

for competence. Indeed, Cronbach’s alpha rises to (r=0.520) when leaving out question 4, but

this is still lower than the acceptable level.

We also observe a lot of variance in the responses to the questions on the needs for autonomy.

We improve the estimated Cronbach’s alpha to (r=0.647, instead of =0.559) when leaving out

the positive formulated question on “I feel a sense of choice and freedom in my job”. However,

we did not leave out this question as we need at least three questions in a scale, in order for the

scale to reliably represent the overarching concept.

The questions on the needs for relatedness have been answered in favour of relatedness.

Cronbach’s alpha could be improved a lot, however, to (r=0.668) when leaving out the question

on sharing failures with fellow teachers, but, as discussed above, we do not want to delete this

question.

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8.1.3 Experienced Job Stress and Burnout

In order to measure experienced job stress and burnout we have used two scales provided by

Maslach and Jackson (1981). These scales are: personal accomplishments and emotional

exhaustion. In particular, emotional exhaustion lies at the heart of experienced burnout

(Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). If burnout is present, people tend to evaluate themselves

negatively and express feelings of unhappiness with their accomplishments on the job.

Furthermore, burnout can lead to depersonalization (e.g. I feel I consider some students as if

they were impersonal ‘objects’). Table 7 summarizes the results on the questions with highest

loadings on the two scales.

Table 7: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales personal accomplishments and emotional

exhaustion

Scores (max.4)

Q(n°) Description 1 2 3 4 Personal accomplishments

2 I deal very effectively with the problems of my

students 1% 7% 18% 73%

3 I feel I am positively influencing children’s lives

through my work 1% 3% 9% 87%

5 I can easily create a relaxed atmosphere with my

children 0% 2% 11% 87%

7 I can accomplish many worthwhile things in my

job as a teacher 1% 1% 9% 89%

8 In my work, I deal with emotional problems very

calmly 2% 6% 18% 75% Emotional exhaustion

1 I feel emotionally tired from my work 62% 32% 4% 1%

2 I feel exhausted at the end of the workday 8% 55% 23% 13%

3 I feel tired when I get up in the morning and have

to face another day on the job 38% 49% 10% 4%

4 Working with children all day gives me stress 76% 21% 2% 0%

5 At the end of the day I am so tired that I want to

cry 59% 32% 5% 3%

6 I feel frustrated by my job 89% 8% 2% 1%

7 I feel I am working too hard on my job 52% 35% 7% 6%

8 I feel that I can’t take it any longer to continue

teaching 91% 8% 0% 1%

Note: For the scale of personal accomplishments, the scores range from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Exactly true).

And for the scale of emotional exhaustion, the scores range from 1 (I never experience this) to 4 (I very always

experience this).

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We have estimated reliability statistics close to or greater than 0.7 for ‘personal

accomplishments’ (r=0.662) and ‘emotional exhaustion’ (r=0.808).

8.1.4 Self-Assessed Teacher Efficacy

According to Schwarzer and Hallum (2008), self-assessed teacher efficacy is an important

predictor for job stress and burnout. The authors use a scale for the measurement of teacher

self-efficacy, which has been constructed in Schwarzer, Schmitz and Daytner (1999). The scale

consists of 10 questions in total. The estimated reliability statistic for teacher efficacy is equal

to (r=0.685). The answers on the questions underlying self-assessed teacher efficacy can be

found in Table 8.

Table 8: Scores on the sub-questions of the scale self-assessed teacher efficacy

Scores (max.4)

Q(n°) Description 1 2 3 4

1 I am convinced that I am able to teach successfully all relevant subject

content to even the most difficult students 3% 13% 27% 57%

2 I know that I can maintain a positive relationship with parents, even when

tensions arise 2% 5% 17% 77%

3 When I try really hard, I am able to reach even the most difficult students 1% 4% 15% 80%

4 I am convinced that as time goes by, I will continue to become more and

more capable of addressing my students' needs 0% 2% 7% 91%

7 If I try hard enough, I know that I can exert a positive influence on both

the personal and academic development of my students 1% 3% 8% 88%

8 In my work, I am convinced that I can develop creative ways to deal with

system constraints and continue to teach well 2% 5% 18% 74%

Note: The scores range from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Exactly true).

8.1.5 Motivation toward Work Tasks

The Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST) assesses five motivational

constructs toward work tasks, namely: intrinsic motivation; identified regulation; introjected

regulation; external regulation; and amotivation. Each motivational construct consists of 3

questions so that we have 15 questions in total measuring teachers’ overall motivation toward

work tasks. The reliability statistics are moderate for intrinsic motivation (r=0.718); for

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introjected regulation (r=0.604); and for external regulation (r=0.607). The other reliability

statistics are poor for identified regulation (r=0.493); and for amotivation (r=0.558). Only

intrinsic motivation meets the critical bound. Table 9 presents the answers to the questions

underlying the different motivation scales.

Table 9: Scores on the sub-questions of the scales intrinsic motivation; identified regulation; introjected

regulation; external regulation; and amotivation

Scores (max.5)

Q(n°) Description 1 2 3 4 5

Intrinsic motivation

1 Because teaching is pleasant to carry

out 2% 1% 5% 19% 74%

6 Because I find teaching interesting to

do 3% 2% 4% 20% 72%

10 Because I like teaching 3% 1% 3% 16% 77% Identified regulation

2 Because teaching enables me to achieve

my own work objectives 1% 3% 5% 25% 66%

12 Because teaching is important for me to

do this task 1% 2% 3% 17% 77%

14 Because I find teaching important for

the academic success of pupils 1% 0% 1% 10% 87% Introjected regulation

4 Because I would feel guilty if would

not teach 14% 4% 8% 20% 54%

7 Because if I don’t teach I will feel bad 23% 7% 12% 23% 35% External regulation

5 Because I’m paid to teach 34% 8% 12% 16% 29%

8 Because my work demands teaching 14% 4% 6% 21% 55%

15 Because the school obliges me to teach 56% 9% 6% 12% 17% Amotivation

3 I don’t know, I don’t always see the

relevance of teaching 82% 5% 6% 4% 3%

11 I used to know why I was teaching, but

I don’t see the reason anymore 78% 5% 8% 5% 5%

13 I don’t know, sometimes I don’t see the

purpose of teaching 89% 3% 4% 2% 2%

Note: The scores range from 1 (Completely disagree) to 5 (Completely agree). The value of 3 indicates neutral.

8.2 Discussion of quality

We have measured several non-cognitive outcome variables by using validated

questionnaires from past published research in the field. Further, we have conducted several

pilot initiatives in order to validate and test the questionnaire. Despite the good overall quality

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of the selected questionnaires, the extensive piloting phase and the professional

translation/presentation of the English questions into Kinyarwanda, we still observe poor

reliability statistics for some outcome measures. This is most likely due to the population of

study: whereas we conduct the questionnaire among Rwandan teachers, in most cases the

questionnaires have only been validated in the past in Western societies, and, additionally, not

necessarily among teachers. Only questionnaire with regard to experienced job stress and

burnout of Maslach and Jackson (1981), have been explored in African countries (Rajan &

Engelbrecht, 2018). Further, it may be the case that the Rwandan population answered some

questions in a socially desired way. Cultural norms and values can influence the way we

perceive a question, and, as such, how we provide answer to that question. Furnham (1986)

argues that social desirability is a relatively stable, multidimensional trait of persons in very

different situations, and, therefore, that answer patterns even could be used to study a

populations’ view on (ab)normality. We consider this beyond the scope of this study, but this

drawback should be taken into account when analysing further results.

We argue to keep eight outcome measures for further evaluation that have had stable results

in the pilot and baseline study, namely: Job satisfaction; Teacher efficacy; Personal

accomplishments; Emotional exhaustion; and Intrinsic motivation; Need for autonomy; Need

for relatedness; and Amotivation. Five scales (except for need for autonomy; need for

relatedness; and amotivation) have reliability statistics close to, or above the critical value of

0.7. However, we still include the scales of need for autonomy; need for relatedness; and

amotivation since they contribute to the overall picture that we wish to study.

9 Evaluation of the pre-treatment outcomes

Table 10 presents the mean and standard deviation of the outcome variables together with

the mean difference between the two different treatment groups and the control group. T-tests

are used for computation of significance levels. The mean is the average of each scale

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(unstandardized coefficients). We only present T-test statistics for those outcomes that satisfy

the quality criteria of being a valid and reliable scale (Section 8.2).

Table 10: T-test of outcome variables

Control group Treatment Group 1 Sig. Treatment Group 2 Sig.

Mean Std.Dev Mean Std.Dev Mean Std.Dev

Job satisfaction 4.2 0.7 4.2 0.7 4.1 0.7

Teacher efficacy 3.7 0.4 3.7 0.4 3.6 0.4 *

Personal

accomplishments 3.8 0.3 3.7 0.4 3.7 0.4

Emotional exhaustion 1.6 0.5 1.5 0.4 * 1.5 0.4

Intrinsic motivation 4.6 0.7 4.6 0.7 4.7 0.6

Needs for autonomy 3.4 0.8 3.4 0.7 3.4 0.7

Needs for relatedness 2.2 0.4 2.2 0.4 2.1 0.4

Amotivation 1.4 0.7 1.5 0.8 1.4 0.7

Note: The maximum score on each scale is 5. Significant levels are denoted at 1%-level (***); 5%-level (**);

and 10%-level (*).

All scales except for emotional exhaustion and needs for relatedness present medium to high

scores. There is no significant difference between the treatment groups and the control group

in this regard. However, the standard deviation for job satisfaction, need for autonomy and

intrinsic motivation is quite high (0.7). This indicates that non-negligible variance in answers

to these outcome variables is present. Smaller variance is found for teacher efficacy and

personal accomplishments. The average scores (of 3.7) on these scales are moderately high for

teacher efficacy and personal accomplishments, respectively. We do not observe a significant

difference between the Treatment Group 1 and the control group on these two scales. There is

a significant difference at 10%-level on teacher efficacy between Treatment Group 2 and the

control group. Similarly, we observe a significant difference at 10%-level between Treatment

Group 1 and the control group on emotional exhaustion. Overall, we can conclude that the RCT

design succeeds well in making the treatment groups and control group comparable.

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10 Conclusion

This paper presented a baseline study on the evaluation of a newly developed mentoring

certificate programme in Rwanda. The objective of this baseline study is to assess the baseline

status of primary outcome measures for the intervention and control group and test for any

differences between the two groups. The primary outcome measures are job satisfaction, work

related needs satisfaction, job stress and burnout, teacher efficacy and motivation. Furthermore,

the baseline results on these outcome measures are described.

In order to conduct the baseline study, questionnaires have been administered among a

sample of 719 teachers. Of these respondents, 412 teachers will eventually receive the newly

established mentoring certificate programme. As such, the baseline study refers to the period

before the execution of this programme.

This baseline study shows that overall treatment and control groups are very similar on pre-

treatment characteristics and on the baseline outcome measures.

11 References

Algozzine, B., Gretes, J., Queen, A. J., & Cowan-Hathcock, M. (2007). Beginning teachers'

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